Where we stand, 4 decades after that fateful summer
The unrest that began July 23, 1967, became a symbol of Detroit as a deeply divided city and continued to fuel white flight to the suburbs. By 2000, Metro Detroit had become the nation's most segregated region, according to a Detroit News analysis of census data.
Four decades after violence left Detroit with a legacy of destruction and distrust, racial attitudes and suspicions are tempering, a Detroit News poll shows.
More whites say they would prefer to live in evenly mixed-race neighborhoods than in white-dominated communities, a dramatic change from 20 years ago. Fewer African-Americans believe whites want to oppress them and fewer whites feel that blacks dislike them.
At the same time, blacks see stubborn or worsening discrimination where most whites don't believe it exists -- in jobs, housing and justice.
Your stories
Hundreds of readers have shared their remembrances about the summer of 1967 and how it affected their lives.
Interactive quiz: 1967
What else was going on in 1967? Test your knowledge.
Newspaper coverage
Look back at Detroit News front pages from the week in 1967 with these pdf files.
- Monday, July 24, 1967
- Tuesday, July 25, 1967
- Wednesday, July 26, 1967
- Thursday, July 27, 1967
- Friday, July 28, 1967
- Saturday, July 29, 1967
- Special section: "A Time of Tragedy" was published on Aug. 11, 1967, about two weeks after the violence ended.
Together, yet still apart
Attitudes soften, but blacks, whites see bias differently
Four decades after violence left Detroit with a legacy of destruction and distrust, racial attitudes and suspicions are tempering, a Detroit News poll shows. - 07/19/2007
Highs, lows of race relations
1943: A fight at Belle Isle turns into 36 hours of violence that claimed 34 lives, 25 of them black. More than 1,800 people were arrested for looting and other crimes in the June incident. - 07/19/2007
Riot or rebellion? Detroiters don't agree
What should we call what happened during those six chaotic days in July 1967 when 43 people died amid gunfire, looting, with whole sections of Detroit in flames? - 07/19/2007
Disparity may lead to unrest
DETROIT -- Could it happen again? - 07/19/2007
Population change in Metro Detroit
This interactive feature looks at the movement of African-Americans in the region from 1940 to 2000. - 07/19/2007
There when it happened
Detroiter went home to find police on his block
It all became real for Peter Goldman when he hit McNichols near Wyoming in July 1967. While driving east toward his parents' home on Wildemere in the University District, he noticed mannequins he thought were dead bodies strewn along the road. - 07/19/2007
There when it happened
Teenager, mother rode from church into chaos
Teenager Alvin Stewart Woods saw smoke rising from 12th Street as his mother drove west on Clairmount on July 23, 1967, on their midmorning journey home from church. - 07/19/2007
There when it happened
Young girl's 'heart just flooded and shattered'
On the floor above her grandparents' grocery store at 23rd and Hancock, a then-7-year old Beverly Troy watched in wide-eyed amazement as looters tore through the neighborhood in July 1967. - 07/19/2007
There when it happened
Young mom hid inside home as market burned
As a young mother in 1967, Laura Kilpatrick Harrison watched as her familiar neighborhood market on Kercheval, just west of Van Dyke disintegrated into ashes in the night sky. - 07/19/2007
Detroit's racial divide: 40 years later
Stark reality: Black-white economic gap widens
In the decades since black frustrations erupted in violence, the economic gap between African-Americans and whites in Metro Detroit has grown, according to several key indicators. - 07/20/2007
More Metro blacks gain leadership roles
African-Americans have won numerous elected and appointed leadership positions in the 40 years since civil upheaval shook Detroit, from the executive branch of the federal government, to state and judicial offices, to the mayor's offices of several... - 07/20/2007
Schools still segregated, unequal
BIRMINGHAM -- At Birmingham Covington School, students begin the day watching video announcements on their classroom TVs. Science labs are filled with microscopes, dissecting tools -- even a wind tunnel. Students begin Spanish in the third grade. - 07/20/2007
Fears of police harassment linger
In his role as a registered guardian for the mentally impaired, Michael Young fights for victims' rights, yet he also feels victimized -- when driving. - 07/20/2007
Young adults show city pride
Right after Marcus D. Harris got his MBA from the University of Michigan in April, the offers poured in. Headhunters wanted to lure him to Chicago and New York. One firm offered a six-figure salary, but Harris declined. - 07/20/2007
DETROIT'S RACIAL DIVIDE: 40 years later
Metro gathers to show unity
DETROIT -- Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick on Monday -- the 40th anniversary of Detroit's civil unrest -- called for unity within the region and for people to discard myths about each other. - 07/24/2007
